My walking programme kicked off in all seriousness towards the end of February 2014. I wrote a post marking the first anniversary in the spring of 2015.

Nature

For the first six years, the walking path was completely in nature, some distance away from urban hustle and bustle. My own rural background endeared the entire walk to me, where I was immersed in a miniature version of flora and fauna.

In the autumn of 2019, the path was severed where a landslip occurred in the rainy season. Still a roundabout was available to circumvent the ruined part, and my project went on.

In 2023, the municipal government initiated a grand project. A skywalk was to be constructed along the mountain ranges around the neighbourhood. The path I followed was completely broken by the ongoing project. After that, I adopted different routes and went on with my walking programme.

Today the skywalk is in place. To my pleasure, the former walk is still usable, with a small section of it overlapped by the skywalk. I do not adopt the skywalk, but if I use the good old path from time to time, I have to cross a very small part of the dazzling project.

The construction of the new skywalk disturbed the pristine environment. Wildlife is spotted less. It is next to impossible to sight a hare, pheasants or hedgehogs these days. Some beauty spots have turned into eyesores. Hopefully, they will repair themselves in time. Left to its own devices, nature has its own way to look after itself.

Health

The regular walking programme has benefited my health in many ways. First, sleep is much better with a moderate dose of exertion. Secondly, my lungs and heart become robust. When Covid erupted towards the end of 2019 and lasted for the following years with over 10 lockdowns, I sailed through the difficult times. When I got infected with the virus when China’s zero Covid policy was brought to an end unceremoniously, I did not suffer as much as others.

In the autumn of 2021, I was finally warned to get the immunisation jab for Covid. At the community clinic, the nurse could not believe my age printed on my ID. She commented that I looked every way like a 30-year-old. Her surprise drew over a senior physician, who was equally amazed, if not more so. I told myself that my walking programme took the credit for it. At the barber’s, Tony, who is my daughter’s age, compared me with his dad. More than once he said my skin was elastic. He wished that his dear father were in the same shape. Hearing the positive feedback, I owed it to my regular move on foot.

Aside from physical health, my mental resilience has been boosted as well. A lot of negative things have happened in the past ten years. I could have been dragged down, but I stayed on top of them all, thanks to my upbeat outlook, and came out a stronger Shengliver.

Long Term Goals

Ten years of the walking programme has taught me the value of long-term goals. Some goals can be achieved in a matter of an hour, a day or a week, but a long-term goal takes patience, perseverance and strategies. I do not walk on a daily basis today, but the programme never stopped for over one week, except for extreme weather conditions and/or Covid lockdowns. One day’s workout does not amount to very much; a week’s will bring out its effect. Ten years’? You bet.

Initiatives

The walking experience highlights the significance of taking initiatives. When you have a goal and pursue it with steps and strategies over a long period of time, you will feel your inner power and confidence growing. Doing things of your own accord is a world apart from taking an order from someone else.

Key Events in the Ten Years

Encountered a YYHS Alumnus, Mr Fu Yichin, Online

Mr Fu was born in my home county and attended my high school in the 1940s before he migrated to Taiwan with the exodus toward the end of the Chinese Civil War. A renowned professor of English and lexicographer, he encountered my English blog in 2014 and left very positive comments on it. I was immensely inspired and encouraged by the subsequent exchanges between us. Sadly, Mr Fu passed away in 2023.

Best Record: 14 Consecutive Days

Though I planned to walk every day for about an hour, the truth was that for various reasons there were days when I could not make it. The best record was that I was on the project for 14 days uninterrupted in the summer holidays of 2018.

Survived a Tempest in August 2015

I was caught up in a violent storm with high winds and bolts of lightning halfway on the hike one evening. Mighty nature awed me. I stayed the storm out in the little pavilion along the route. When it was all over, the path was littered with branches and debris. One tree somewhere by the path was uprooted. Man is powerless in the man-versus-nature war. We have to be at the right place at the right time.

Mother Passed Away in 2018

Mother suffered from depression, on and off, for years. She passed away in the late spring of 2018.

Two Colleagues of Mine Died

Mr Zhang Jinping died of liver cancer, and Ms Xu Xiaoyun of a blood disorder.

Breakthroughs in English Studies and in DTP

I took some online tests of my English vocabulary size and of my general English proficiency. Three different test results showed that I boast even a larger vocabulary than a lot of native English users. One test’s verdict went:

(The candidate) can understand with ease practically everything they hear or read;

can summarise information and arguments from different spoken and written sources, and present them coherently and concisely;

and can express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.

Although I do not work or live in a natural English language environment, I feel up to the level, C2, when applying the language in podcasting, blogging and correspondence. Is there still room for improvement for Shengliver? Definitely, and I am looking forward to more progress being made in the coming years.

My other pursuit is DTP, Desktop Publishing. Tech has made it possible for an individual to accomplish what it used to take a team of professionals at a publishing house to do. I committed several hundred hours in my spare time to this complex field. Today, I am fairly comfortable with the general workflow of DTP and confident about manipulating some key apps. Assembling text, images and multimedia and presenting them in a digital format such as PDF, EPUB, MP3 or MP4 is within Shengliver’s power.

First Smartphone

I got my first smartphone, a Huawei P9, in May 2016. Before that, I had used a basic phone, dubbed Old Folk Phone, for years. The smart device taught me the skills and smart tech. It has also taught me self-discipline and the critical importance of having only the essential apps installed on the device.

Right Eye Went Faulty

Despite care and caution, the right eye started having problems. I have to live with it for the rest of my life. If you cannot change it, you have to take it.

Podcasting Site Was Born

My personal learning and research project was initiated over 20 years ago, and the project website was born on MSN spaces in 2005. An important part of the project was telling Chinese teenager stories in English.

When I switched from paper to digital, I was fascinated by sound, how it is synthesised and how it is mixed with background music. Processing digital sound is part of my DTP endeavour. From hardware to software, from self-amusement to drawing an audience, I have to congratulate Shengliver on coming a long way to the present stage.

After lots of trial and error plus false starts, my podcasting website finally materialised on Anchor. The audio narratives are distributed on the Web through over a dozen podcasting portals.